User:Arxiloxos/Sidney Eisenshtat (draft)

Sidney Eisenshtat (June 6, 1914 - March 1, 2005) was an American architect who was best known for his synagogues and Jewish academic buildings.

Biography
Sidney Eisenshtat was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and his family later lived in Detroit, Michigan. The family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1926, reportedly in search of a less anti-Semitic atmosphere than they perceived in Detroit. He graduated from the University of Southern California architecture school in 1935. Early in his career he designed large projects for the United States Department of Defense, tract houses, and retail stores.

It was not until 1951 that he designed his first major religious structure, Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, California. Eight years later he designed the landmark Sinai Temple on Wilshire Boulevard in the Westwood district of Los Angeles.

Influenced by other modernist architects, notably Eric Mendelsohn, Eisenshat was noted for a use of expressive forms in thin shell concrete, white walls, simple materials, and natural light. Two of his most representative and distinguished buildings are set in arid desert environments. At Temple Mount Sinai in El Paso, Texas (1962) the Ark is a giant open tripod inside a soaring, tent-like concrete sanctuary; this building is featured in the book American Synagogues by noted architecture critic Samuel D. Gruber, and has been described as "a dramatically sculptural building perfect for its austere setting."

The futuristic House of the Book, built in the early 1970s as the temple for the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, is set among the Santa Susana Mountains near Simi Valley, California, and is well-known as a filming location for science-fiction and other productions.

Eisenshtat's design for the Hillel House at the University of Southern California was described as one of his best buildings by USC architecture professor James Steele, who said it was representative of "his personality and his attitude toward Judaism," with a building that is "very open, free, full of light," but surrounded by a "bunker"-like "defensive wall."

Eisenshtat also designed the master plan for the campus of the University of Judaism (now American Jewish University) in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California, completed in 1977. His notable secular buildings include the Friars Club and Union Bank buildings in Beverly Hills.

An observant Orthodox Jew, Eisenshtat reportedly did not accept fees for his synagogue projects. He died in 2005 at age 90. USC's Architectural Guild Press has announced that a monograph about Eisenshtat's work is under production, to be written by USC professor James Steele.

Selected Buildings

 * Temple Emanuel, Beverly Hills, California (1951)
 * Sinai Temple, Westwood, Los Angeles, California (1960)
 * Friars Club of Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills, California (1961)
 * Temple Mount Sinai, El Paso, Texas (1962)
 * House of the Book, Brandeis-Bardin Institute, Simi Valley, California (c. 1970)
 * Hillel House, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
 * Knox Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles, California